As India's World Cup campaign came to a heartbreaking end, the same old questions around the flaky middle-order reared its ugly head all over again. The top order was dismantled and the middle-order never arrived. And this has been a pattern for a while now and there have to be solutions identified.
Shreyas Iyer, who is currently leading the India 'A' side in West Indies, is one sure solution and the young man has made his ambitions clear - he wants to make a comeback to the Indian side and learn more from Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.
'Deserve a chance in the Indian team'
"I deserve a chance in the Indian team. My performances in the 'A' series should count. My goal is to be better than the previous season, I want to grow as an individual and become more mature as a player. I want to try bat till the end," Iyer, who averages 52.18 in first-class cricket, told bcci.tv.
India will travel to West Indies after their World Cup campaign and this is where the selectors need to be smart and select the Mumbai-man in the side as he is already well-versed with the conditions, something that he too is excited about.
"This is going to be the first time I am going to the West Indies. It's going to be a good experience for me. The wickets are a bit like Indian tracks, the bowlers are going to be challenging there as well," the right-hander added.
There are different qualities he wants to learn from different Indian players, he wants to keep growing and this hunger should be utilised by the Indian management. He wants to bat like Kohli and keep scoring runs and he wants to imbibe pressure and be calm like MS Dhoni.
"Kohli is always hungry for runs and you can see it in his batting. I want to see that hunger in myself. While Dhoni is very calm and composed in pressure situations," he said.
Also, he identifies a lot with his Mumbai teammate Rohit Sharma and now seeks to learn the art of batting long. He believes Rohit has extra time to play the strokes and has superb timing.
"Rohit obviously is very talented. He's got so much time when he plays, makes batting look easy. He is someone who is totally different from other batsman. The best seat to watch him bat is from the non-strikers end, right now takes his time. He structures his innings well. If I get all three aspects it will be very helpful for me," Iyer added.
So, after all the failed experiments, it is time for the selectors to take the leap of faith and invest in Shreyas Iyer and also give him a longer rope.
